Changing face of speedo from miles to kms

[Porsche]

Hi

Is it wise to change the face of the speedometer of an early S from the original miles to kilometres? Would it detract from its value? Did the early S ever come with a km speedo?

Thanks in advance for the advice.

[gruen911]

Hi

Is it wise to change the face of the speedometer of an early S from the original miles to kilometres? Would it detract from its value? Did the early S ever come with a km speedo?

Thanks in advance for the advice.

Erwin,
Since the early S was built by a company based in Germany, and these cars were sold throughout Europe, it goes without saying that any early Porsche 911S sold in continental Europe would most definitely have come with a factory original KPH speedo.
As for changing the MPH speedo to KPH, the problem with simply changing the face plate would be that while the speedo needle would be showing how fast you are going in KPH, the odometer would still be calculating total miles driven instead of total kilometers. You would need to have the whole unit rebuilt.
North Hollywood Speedo could do the rebuild, as well as VDO out of Frankfurt Germany (VDO rebuilt my speedometer last year and did a great job). North Hollywood Speedo just rebuilt my tachometer and did a great job. Neither was cheap though...
Good luck

[pwd72s]

Leave it to a fool like me to ask....why?

[Porsche]

I find that when I drive it I am constantly doing metric conversions to ensure I'm not over the speed limit! I'm sure I'll get used to it.

60 mph = 100 kmh (or thereabouts).

[Justin]

I got Nth Hollywood Speedo to do it. At the same time they can calibrate the speedo to the tires you are running. It probably is wildely out at present as you are more than likely running completely different rubber than original. Nth Hol. Speedo did a great job.

[SWBS]

I find that when I drive it I am constantly doing metric conversions to ensure I'm not over the speed limit! I'm sure I'll get used to it.

60 mph = 100 kmh (or thereabouts).

I do the same thing, only in reverse; I get to convert kph to mph, but after a while it becomes rather natural, as well as a reasonably good way to maintain my multiplication tables . It's probably more fun from my perspective however - I got the speedo up to 155 on the Daytona tri-oval at Rennsport Reunion, whereas you would only have achieved a measly 96mph!

Perhaps someone else in the States with a Euro car & speedo/odo would wish to swap with you...otherwise I would think suitable used units could be found locally.

Jim

[preS]

Erwin,

Palo Alto Speedo can do the coversion for you as well. Costs about $175 (?) which includes rebuild and calibration. A new needle is included, the housing will be zinc plated but it doesn't include a new chrome ring.

For the conversion of the early green faced KM gauge, they have faceplates at hand however it's different from the original. Instead of a red speedband at 50-60 KM, is theirs all green like from a 356 Carrera. Might have to do w/ that they use a kind of sticker instead of printed faceplate (as the original which are NLA). You might check on North hollywood what kind of faceplate they use (and please share w/ us).

When you find an used KM speedo local, make sure that it goes all the way to 250. A 912 looks identical but stops at 200.

Just my $.02

Richard

[preS]

Erwin,

There is a green faced one on eBay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEBI%3AIT&rd=1


Richard

[lisa_spyder]

Erwin,

We use Ringwood Speedometer Services here in Melb. Not taking anything away from the great repairers in the States, but there's no need to send your speedo out of the country to do this and yes they can calibrate to your tyre size too. They are very good, we have used them for many years and have had next to no problems (well everyone is human ). The odometer will still be in miles, but that's something most people live with OK.

We should explain to our overseas friends that we have no more than 3km tolerance allowed before speed cameras kick in and the fine arrives in the mail...in a previous thread a few months ago I was lamenting all the speed limit changes we drive through around town now, particularly at school times. I'd be changing it if I was you Erwin (and ask Ringwood Speedo to return the old face to you so you can keep it).

Cheers,
Lisa

[gulf908]

Erwin,

The previous owner of my car did exactly the same thing that you are thinking about, incidentally at Ringwood Speedo.
He put a KPH face over the MPH speedo workings presumably to prevent himself getting booked for speeding.
After a short familiarisation period, I now have no problems with this apparently conflicting system of a KPH dial and a MPH odometer.

Cheers,
Dennis.